


5+1 pepperony fics i started writing but never finished

by moosh



Series: Pepperony Week 2019 [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Pepperony Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-26 00:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20034499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moosh/pseuds/moosh
Summary: Pepperony Week 2019 - Day #1  - 5+1 TimesJust like the title says, 5+1 Pepperony fics that I started writing but never finished. Read at your own risk!





	1. post-endgame whump

**Author's Note:**

> All Pepperony with a few various guest appearances. All pretty much unfinished or just short drabbles. I'll try to add context at the start of each chapter if any is needed, and hey if you're really into a particular fic let me know and maybe I'll start working on it again! Most of these I haven't touched in months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Post-Endgame whump for Pepper and Morgan. Canon compliant. You've been warned!

Pepper hesitated for a moment outside of the workshop door as she laid eyes on her daughter collapsed on the floor, sobbing, exactly where FRIDAY said she’d find her. It had been just over a year, and while she would never be _over it, _every day was a little bit better than the last. Every day she smiled a little more and was able to relive another memory without having to choke back a sob. But every time she stepped foot in the workshop it was like being punched in the gut. There was so much of _him_ in everything and sometimes it was overwhelming.

She took a deep breath and came up behind Morgan slowly, not wanting to scare her. She was curled up in a ball in the middle of the floor shaking and sobbing and it broke every piece of Pepper’s heart. She knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Morgan? Baby? What’s wrong?”

Morgan flinched a little bit at her touch but turned up to look at her mother. Her eyes were red and puffy and tears and snot were streaming down her face. “I broke Dum-E.” She sobbed out, closing her eyes tightly and trying to bat Pepper away. “I broke Dum-E and I don’t know how to fix him.”

Pepper looked over at the still robot next to her. A piece of metal that was covering all of his mechanical inner working was damaged and there were several exposed wires.

“We – I - we were playing fetch. And I threw the ball too hard and it bounced off a table and hit him and then he stopped moving.” She huffed out between sobs.

Pepper finally pulled her up into a hug and started planting kisses on the top of her head and rubbing her back, trying to calm her down. “It’s ok, baby. It’s ok. It was an accident. We’ll fix him.”

“How? He’s not here to fix him how are we supposed to fix him?” The girl wailed as Pepper held her, blinking back a few tears of her own. She turned her head towards the ceiling and sighed, just wishing that he was here. To fix this. To fix _them._

“FRIDAY?” Pepper called out. “What’s the damage?”

“Seems the sheer velocity of Miss Morgan’s baseball was able to completely destroy the housing surrounding Dum-E’s left processor. I’ve already started fabricating a new cover, but in the mean time you’ll just need to solder a few wires back into the PCB to get him up and running. I’ll gladly talk you through it, boss.” The AI replied.

Soldering. Pepper could do that. Tony had taught her how to do it many moons ago. Way back during her first years as his assistant. She soon discovered that sometimes if she really needed to discuss something with him it was easier to do that while they both hunched over a workbench. They’d gotten so much done over the years while both wearing incredibly unflattering safety glasses looking at tiny circuit boards under magnifying glasses.

Morgan had calmed down quite a bit in her arms, and Pepper pressed a kiss to her forehead as she wiped away the tears that were still falling. “We’ll fix him, Goona. I promise.”


	2. peter parker potts

Pepper was still not used to this.

It was Sunday morning, just after 9:30. A few of the windows were open and the room was full of brilliant sunlight and she could hear the lapping of waves against the shore below. Tony was sitting up, hunched over a tablet typing away while she ran her hand up and down his bare back, stopping to play with his floofy mop of hair whenever she got there.

Lazy Sunday mornings with Tony Stark. If anyone would have told her 12 years ago that this would someday be a thing, she would’ve thought you were insane.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ping of her Blackberry receiving an email, and Tony seemed to huff a bit when she took her hand away from his hair. The message was from JARVIS, with the subject Article of Interest. This was not as unusual as you might think – JARVIS often sent her stuff he thought she’d enjoy. Usually they were about her or Tony or the company, though last week he’d sent her a recipe for banana muffins, which at the time she found strange but they ended up being delicious so who was she to question the AI’s methods?

She opened the article, hoping maybe for a pumpkin muffin recipe this time since Fall was rapidly approaching.

_The body found in a parked car behind the Del Taco on Mountain View Street Saturday morning has been identified as Susan Potts, 53, of Barstow._

“Oh shit.” Pepper said quietly.

“Hm?”

“I think my mother died.”

“Really?”

She read the first line of the article to him.

“Huh. Well, good riddance to bad rubbish.” Tony replied, knowing precisely how Pepper felt about her mother. She continued to read the article out loud.

“No foul play is suspected, and the coroner has ruled the death accidental. Drugs and drug paraphernalia were present at the scene, though an official cause of death cannot be determined until an autopsy has been performed. _Oh my God_.”

“What?” Tony asked. Pepper said nothing but continued to stare at her phone in shock. “Pep, what’s wrong?”

“Ms. Potts’ 15-year-old son has been placed into the custody of the San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services. Authorities are releasing no further information at this time.”

“She had a son?”

“I have a _brother_?” Pepper asked out lout to no one in particular. She sprang out of bed and headed towards her closet to start getting dressed. “JARVIS? I need information about Susan Potts’ son.” She called out to the AI from the closet. Tony was now crawling out to bed to follow her.

“Peter Parker Potts was born October 10th, 1995 in Barstow, California to Ms. Susan Potts, 38. No father is listed on the birth certificate.”


	3. ice cream

“You are supposed to be in the middle of delivering a very well written speech to 500 people who paid a lot of money to be there.”

“Yes, I know. And I will be soon. I promise. Two minutes. For no other reason than to appease the stage manager who seems very irritated.”

The stage manager and Pepper had that in common at the moment. “What do you want?” Pepper asked a bit harsher than was probably necessary, but after ignoring the 6th phone call in a row from Tony he’d somehow managed to bypass the whole ringing thing and just started saying “Pepper Pepper Pepper!” over and over on speaker until she finally relented and stepped out of the meeting.

“Ok, I know you’re busy, but I need a favor.” He was met with silence on the other end of the call. “I need you to pick Peter up from school this afternoon.”

“Why? He’s 15 and he has a MetroCard.”

“Yes, but he texted me a little while ago asking if I was going to be at SI this afternoon because he wanted to come hang out before May got home. Said he didn’t want to be alone.”

“Well, he is technically an R&D intern, so he is perfectly welcome to come and tinker whenever he wants to without an escort from the CEO. Look, I really need to get back – “

“Wait, Pep, please.”

She sighed. “What?”

“He said that he didn’t want to be alone. I wasn’t sure why at first, but it’s the one-year anniversary of his uncle’s death. He loved him so much, Pep, and he blames himself for everything. I don’t think he would’ve reached out if he wasn’t in serious need of someone to talk to.”

“What about May?”

“She works ‘til 6. Trying to maintain normalcy, I guess? Who knows. We all grieve in different ways. But, I don’t want him to be alone today. Even if it’s just for a few hours. Can you just pick him up and take him back to the office? Make him collate something.”

Pepper’s mood finally softened. She did like Peter quite a bit– he was a nice, smart kid who’d been great for Tony. He always needed a project and mentoring a young superhero was a lot healthier than some of the other’s he’d had. “Are you sure I’m the best person for this? I don’t really know him all that well – are you sure he even likes me? He’s always so quiet when I’m around.”

“Of course he likes you! You might scare him a bit, but that’s – that’s normal. You scare me sometimes too. “

“Tony…”

“I can’t think of anyone better to spend the afternoon with him. Even if I was on the correct coast, I’d have still sent you in. You possess the exact set of unique qualifications needed to handle this. I think it’ll be good for both of you.”

“Huh, so, childhood trauma translates into unique qualifications?” She finally fully understood what Tony was getting at.

“Absolutely.”

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “What time does he get out of school?”

“2:45.”

“All right.”

“Thanks Pep. I’ll text him and tell him to meet you.”

“I’m a big girl. I can text him myself.”

“I love you, thank you.”

“I love you too, go knock ‘em dead.”

=====

At precisely 2:45, Pepper found herself standing outside of Peter’s school fidgeting with her phone. She wasn’t nervous, per se, but one on one time with kids wasn’t necessarily her forte. Tony was such a natural when it came to interacting with children, probably because deep down he was still a 12 year old, but Pepper always found it difficult.

She knew Peter, though. He and May had been to their place a few times for dinner, and lately whenever Tony actually spent time at SI Headquarters, Peter was right there with him.

“Ms. Potts! I got your text to meet you is everything – wow!” He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her, mouth agape. Pepper looked up from her phone at the boy

“Oh god sorry, I uh, just, geez, I’ve never seen you in jeans before.” He rambled out with that same nervous patter he always had with her.

Pepper couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yes, well sometimes I even wear sweatpants. But that’s only for Tony on special occasions.” She teased, slipping her phone into her pocket. After lunch she’d decided to ditch the heels and business suit in favor of boots, jeans, and a sweater. Not that she wasn’t capable of walking around Manhattan for a few hours in her normal work attire, but this situation seemed to call for something a bit more casual.

Peter’s cheeks flushed. “Right, well, um, like I said, I got your text. What’s up?”

“Do you want to go get some ice cream?”

“What?”

“Ice cream. I know it’s March, but there’s never a wrong time for ice cream.”

“Did – did Mr. Stark send you?”

She thought about lying for a second but knew that he was smarter than that. “Yes. He said you could use some company today.”

Peter looked down at the ground, and Pepper fully expected him reply with something along the lines of _I’m fine, he didn’t need to do that_. Instead though, he sighed a bit and looked back up to meet her gaze. “Ice cream sounds great.”

She smiled. “All right, let’s go.”

“Where’s the car?” He asked, looking around for something non-descript, yet expensive, with tinted windows and a huge body guard.

“No car today. We have to catch the 6.” Pepper said, as they rounded a corner and started heading toward the stop on the next block.

“We’re taking the Subway? You’re taking the Subway?”

“Is that not allowed?”

“No, it’s just that, you’re, ya know, you. I’ve never not seen you in some crazy $100,000 car surrounded by guys with guns.”

“I know. It’s a bit much, isn’t it? But Tony’s in California, so it’ll be our little secret. Plus, I’ve got Spider-Man and the mother of all panic buttons.” She held up her wrist to show a simple, silver watch. “I think we’ll be able to handle any bad guys that pop up.”

“What happens when you press the panic button?” He asked, quietly.

“It calls a suit.”

“Like, an empty one or one with Mr. Stark in it?”

“Empty. So that I can get into it and get away. Though I imagine that Tony wouldn’t be too far behind.”

“Ok, ok yeah. We’ll be fine.” He tightened the grip on his backpack, suddenly wishing that he’d been wearing his suit underneath his clothes. The thought of something bad happening to Ms. Potts while he was with her made him feel sick. “You know, I think there’s a Baskin Robbins back near my school. If you want to stay above ground.”

She noticed his eyes darting around rapidly as they approached the station. “Peter, relax. I take the Subway all the time. And we’re not going to Baskin Robbins. I’m taking you to get good ice cream.”

“Where?”

“Upper East Side. My old neighborhood. There’s this little place that’s been making homemade ice cream for generations and I used to go all the time as a kid. So much has changed about the City, but this place has remained almost untouched.”

“You’re from here?” Peter asked, a little shocked, as they descended to the platform.

“Yes. Well, technically I was born in Connecticut. But I moved to Manhattan when I was 5.”

“Oh, why? I feel like most people flee the City for Connecticut, not the other way around.”

Pepper chuckled, nervously unsure of what to say next. She avoided talking about her childhood almost more than Tony did, but he’d sent her in for a reason. “Well, my parents died when I was 5, so I had to come here to live with my Uncle Morgan.”

“Oh.” Peter squeaked out. “Oh God, I’m sorry that’s, that’s – I didn’t know.”

“Why would you? Don’t be sorry, it was, Jesus, it was almost 40 years ago.” Pepper suddenly felt ancient. “That’s not to say that I don’t still get sad about it, because I do, but everything gets better with time.”

“I was 5 when my parents died too.” Peter said quietly, shoving his hands as far into his pockets as possible while staring at the ground.

“I know.”

They were quiet for a while as they waited for their train. A few 4s and 5s blew past them as the platform started to fill. Pepper pulled out her phone to check a few of the emails she’d felt buzz in her pocket. Peter took a step closer to her scanned the crowd around them, paying special attention to the guy he’d noticed snapping a few photos of the rather famous CEO.

When their train finally arrived, they were able to snag two relatively isolated seats at the back of the car.

“Sorry.” Pepper said, after two or three minutes of fervent typing on her phone. “I had to send a very strongly worded email to a couple of morons on Taipei.”


	4. uncle morgan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of a fic where Tony was going to India to ask Pepper's uncle permission to marry her.

“You’re going to a wedding tomorrow? In India?” Pepper asked, puzzled, as Assistant Four handed her another stack of documents to look over. Tony had long since given up on trying to remember the names of Pepper’s staff. Giving them numbers was much easier. Her office was buzzing with at least eight of them as they finalized the acquisition of a small tech company they’d been after for years.

“Yes, I’ll be back Thursday night.” Tony said dodging Three, who was carrying 2 full trays of Starbucks.

This didn’t even crack the top thousand when it came to the list of weird things that Tony Stark had done, but it was still strange. For starters, Tony hated weddings. They’d been invited to hundreds of them over the years, but she’d only managed to drag him to a handful. He usually ended up getting drunk out of sheer boredom and complaining the entire time. She figured that the fear of having to sit through his own wedding was why he’d never popped the question.

“I’m confused.”

“Look, I haven’t seen Dinesh in a while and he’s one of my oldest friends.”

“You had lunch with him last week.”

“Riiight, you’re right, but, you know, as part of my continuing _Stark Redemption Tour_ I’m trying to maintain friendships with people who don’t regularly wear spandex and kill aliens.”

“Why is it in the middle of the week?”

“Hindu thing. Something to do with the position of the planets and stars."

Pepper pursed her lips.

“Hey, look, I would’ve invited you – not to say that you’re not invited, because you totally are and I think you would look amazing in a sari, but this seems like a bad week for you to take a day off.”

“Ms. Potts, Mr. Scott is on line 2 and Ms. Harmon is on line 5.” Someone called over the intercom. Tony just held up his arms and shrugged with that stupid smile that always drove Pepper crazy.

“Thursday night?”

“Yes, I wont even be gone long enough for you to miss me.” He said leaning in to give her a small peck on the cheek.

  
Pepper smiled before walking back over to her desk. “Oh, Tony!” She called after him as he headed out the door. “Uncle Morgan is still in Mumbai, I’m sure he’d love to see you if you can squeeze him in.”

Tony threw up a thumbs up as he hurried down the hallway.


	5. au morgan stark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written right after Infinity War. Boy!Morgan.

“Are you sure you didn’t accidentally have an affair with a tall, blonde milkman 15 years ago who’s terrible at math and breaks everything he touches?”

Pepper set down her mug and frowned at her son, who’d slumped down in the chair across from her after emerging from the workshop. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’d just like to meet my actual father. TMZ once ran a poll asking readers who they thought it was. 78% said Steve Rogers.”

“You know, you’re taller than him because my father was 6’2”. And you’re blonde because both of my parents _and_ his mother were blonde. And I’m going to let you in on a little secret here, don’t call the Enquirer, but I am also blonde. Shocking, I know. But this-“ Pepper motioned at her radiant strawberry blonde hair. “-comes from a box.”

Morgan couldn’t help but laugh. “When was the last time you used boxed hair dye?”

“Probably the night before my interview at SI a million years ago. What happened?”

“I was helping him put together some weird new arm grabber _thing _and he wanted me to solder some stuff and I thought I was doing it right, but it turns out that I wasn’t, and he went a bit _Howard_ and I just – why am I so bad at everything he’s good at?”

As if on cue, Tony rushed into the dining room. “Hey, I am sorry that I went a bit, well, I don’t know but it was just an important component and I should have just done it myself I guess but I already fixed and it’s fine.”

“Good for you.” Morgan snarked.

“It’s just, it’s the prototype for what we’re going to have the kids build this Summer and I want it to be…” Tony trailed off.

“Not complete shit? I’m sorry I even touched it. It won’t happen again.”

“That is not what I was going to say. Please just come back downstairs, and I’ll explain it to you again so that this Summer – “

Morgan rolled his eyes and stood up. “Dad. Seriously. For the last time. I am NOT going with you to MIT this Summer. I really do appreciate you wanting to take me along to the Avengers Robot Building Science Summer Camp Extravaganza or whatever the hell it is, but I’d rather shove a rusty nail through my eye.”

Looking at the two of them side by side, you couldn’t blame the kid for thinking that Pepper had, perhaps, slept with the milkman. For starters, Morgan was already about 3 inches taller than his father and still growing. He was thin and athletic, thanks to 12 years of playing soccer, and had unkempt, wavy blonde hair which often covered his eyes.

“Come on, it’s going to be great. Pete and Bruce will both be there and-“

“Are you starting to lose it in your old age? They wouldn’t even let me through the front door. Did you see my last report card? I am currently pulling a C- in both chemistry and algebra, the latter of which I am taking for the second time, as I am sure you recall.”

Pepper winced a bit at that last statement, thinking pack to the previous Spring. Within 48 hours of the school informing them that Morgan would have to repeat the class, the internet was flooded with sensationalized headlines about Tony Stark’s son failing 9th grade algebra. Some of the articles even went so far as to suggest that Tony was so disappointed in his son that he hadn’t spoken to him in weeks. A few paparazzi shots of Tony and Peter Parker having lunch the same day did nothing to quell those rumors, though they couldn’t have been farther from the truth. While Pepper worked with their lawyers sending out cease and desist orders, it was Tony who spent hours consoling a completely broken and embarrassed Morgan, reassuring him that he loved him and that he was proud of him and that he wasn’t stupid.

Math had been a struggle for Morgan from the moment they’d started teaching him to count. He was eventually diagnosed with something called dyscalculia, and after spending countless hours with tutors over the years, he started to do quite well. Until algebra. It was almost like starting over.

“Look, I write MIT several very large checks every year, so they’ll do whatever I tell them.”

“So, you’re going to buy my way in? Awesome. I’m sure that would make me very popular with all of the other kids.”

“If you don’t want to build anything, that’s fine, just come and hang out and go to some of the workshops. There’s going to be this really great physicist who-“ 

“Physicist huh? Well, there it is then.”

“Tony, let’s not get into that right now.” Pepper said sternly.

“Get into what?” Tony asked.

“I’m not taking physics next year.” Morgan blurted out.

“You’ve _have_ to take physics.”

“No, actually I don’t. I didn’t even have to take Chemistry this year, which I really wish someone would have told me. I’m gonna take Marine Biology instead.” Morgan said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Marine Biology? Why? So you can go train dolphins at SeaWorld?”

“Maybe. That could be fun but I haven’t taken the class yet so I don’t-“

Tony began to pace. “When did you decide you weren’t taking physics?”

“Last week when I met with my guidance counselor.”

“Doesn’t someone need to sign off on that?”

“Yes, Tony, I did.” Pepper chimed in. “It’s fine, he’ll be fine.”

“What else are you taking?”

“English, History, Spanish, Orchestra, Marching Band, which counts as gym, and business math, which I think is mostly adding and subtracting so I’m hoping it’ll be OK.”

“No underwater basket weaving? Or ballroom dance? And business math? Do you know how many accountants I have? You don’t need to take business math.”

“Oh, so you’d rather me take pre-calc or something and once again have my failures splashed across the newsstands? No thank you. And back to this MIT thing, _thousands_ of kids who aren’t as stupid -“

“You’re not stupid.” Tony interrupted, but Morgan didn’t stop.

“-as I am applied for this camp, send 100 of them in my place, please. I want to spend more time with you, but can it just be something that doesn’t involve quadratic equations or guys in spandex?”

“I _neve_r wore spandex.” Tony huffed, crossing his arms across his chest, matching his son’s stance.

There was a beat of silence.

“OK, are we done here?” Pepper said standing up.

“Yeah, I’m done, I’m going to my room.”

Tony and Pepper locked eyes as they listened to their son stomp away, waiting for the inevitable door slam.

“Seriously, Tony? You thought he’d want to go build robots with Spider-Man?” She asked, clearing the table.

“He’s doing a lot better in school.”

“He is, and I am so proud of him. He’s worked his ass off, and the _hundreds of thousands _of dollars we’ve spent on private tutors has been invaluable, but, come on, limping across the finish line of high school chemistry does not mean that he’s going to suddenly become a world-class scientist.”

“He could if he wanted to. This whole math issue shouldn’t hold him back.”

“Yes, I know he could, but he doesn’t want to, so he’s not. He is interested in so many other things. Take him to a concert or a Yankees game or to a soccer game or something. Do you know how much money we spend every year to have the Stark Industries logo plastered across the front of Barcelona’s uniforms? I am sure you could scrounge up some tickets.”

Tony sighed and slumped the exact same way into the exact same chair that Morgan had. Pepper made a mental note to get the recordings of those from moments from FRIDAY to show Morgan the next time he questioned her fidelity.

“Do you know what I was doing when I was 15?”

“Yes, you were already at MIT, but that’s just not-“

“No, I know. He and I are polar opposites. I get that, I do. I just – Dad shipped me off to boarding school when I was 7 years old. I never got to be a normal kid. Or a normal teenager. I don’t even know what that means. I don’t know what to do with him.”

Tony sounded absolutely defeated. Pepper reached out across the table, grabbed his hand, and began stroking the back of it with her thumb.

“Just spend time with him. That’s all he wants. That’s all you want. You guys have more in common than you think.“


	6. baby morgan

Pepper’s eyes fluttered open and took a moment to adjust to the bright light above her. Her head was a bit fuzzy and her entire lower half felt numb. Hospital. She was in the hospital. Pregnant. Labor. C-Section. C-Section. Her heart started pounding as she remembered she’d been rushed into surgery for an emergency C-Section. They last thing she remembered was looking into Tony’s eyes, the rest of his face covered by a surgical mask, while he told her that everything was going to be OK.

She looked around the room in a panic before her eyes fell on Tony. He was sitting to her left holding a baby. Their baby. Their daughter. He looked up at her and smiled “Welcome back. How are you feeling? Any pain?”

“I’m ok, is she ok?”

“Yeah, she’s great. She’s perfect.” His smile grew as he looked back down at the bundle in his arms. “Hey Morgan, mom’s awake. You ready to meet her properly?”

Tony carefully stood, cradling Morgan in one arm and grabbing the remote to adjust the bed with his free hand. Pepper marveled at how natural and at-ease Tony already seemed, juggling both tasks easily. Once she was sitting up Tony took a seat on the edge of the bed and handed Morgan to her. She fussed a little, crinkling her nose and whining a bit before eventually settling back down.

Pepper was in was in love.

“She’s blonde.” Was all she could say, noticing her eyelashes and the wisps of hair sticking out from under her little hat.

“Yeah I noticed that. You sure she’s mine?” Tony teased, crawling into the bed and putting his arm around her.

“Pretty sure.” She smiled, running a finger gently along Morgan’s chubby little cheek. Tony had been blonde as a baby too.

“You did great today, mom.” Tony said, leaning in to give Pepper a kiss on the forehead.

“So did you, dad.”

Tony took a deep breath and bit his lip at the word dad, still seeming a but unsure about the whole thing. “Well, you did most of the heavy lifting. Or rather, heavy pushing? Heavy laying there while they gutted you? I didn’t faint though. So that’s good.”

“We did good.”

“We’ve got a lifetime to screw it up.”

Pepper finally broke her gaze away for Morgan and looked at Tony. “We wont, I promise.” She said firmly.

Tony sighed and rested his head on Pepper’s shoulder. “We’ll see.”


End file.
